Dear Doug Burgum: The Soul of Our Nation Is Not for Sale
We cannot allow our shared natural heritage to be bulldozed, defunded, and sold off by men who look at a majestic forest and only see square footage for server racks.
For most of my life, I’ve had a guitar in my hands and a melody in my head. Traveling this country as a musician, with Perpetual Groove and The Brock Butler Band, has allowed me to share music with people from all walks of life, and I know firsthand the profound power music has to bring us together. Being fortunate enough to travel as much as I have has also meant the opportunity to see a lot of this beautiful country firsthand.
I’ve become more aware and informed about the most corrupt administration in history, and its attempts (failed and successful) to develop public lands with everything from data centers to golf courses (as long as it’s not windmills, I guess?). I grew up in a rural area of Virginia and the thing I enjoy most about my visits home is the tranquility. I find my grounding out under the open sky. I’m lucky that where I grew up remains relatively intact. If a data center got plopped in the woods behind my home I’d be devastated. Everyone should have the opportunity to get grounded in lovely and peaceful places.
The quiet majesty of our public lands should remain unadulterated. I find profound inspiration in the vast, open spaces and the sheer awesomeness of nature. These places are where we go to breathe, to reflect, and to remember who we are. Whether you’re a hiker, a painter, or someone who loves to pick an instrument around a campfire, whatever your reason and intention to get out in nature might be, it should not be limited or compromised by easements and condominiums.
It seems like anything not nailed down is finding its way into the pockets of a handful of billionaires. And this includes our sacred public spaces.
That’s why every day the news is like torture: war, poverty, sickness—and through it all a looting of the public. It seems like anything not nailed down is finding its way into the pockets of a handful of billionaires. And this includes our sacred public spaces. I get told in comment sections often enough I should just stick to music.
So when my dear friend Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, asked if I was interested in helping to expose Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s ongoing pilfering of our public lands through song, I jumped at the opportunity. Because while music can unite us, sometimes it needs to be wielded to shine a light on the wrongdoings of the powerful. And right now, no one is doing more wrong by our public lands than the man who defines the phrase "All Hat, No Cattle." That man is US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.
Burgum is treating our sacred landscapes like an industrial lot for tech billionaires. He has earned the moniker "Secretary AI" for his huddles with data center heavyweights, spending the last year taking a string of meetings with data center investors just as his agencies start handing over our lands for development. He is actively plotting to hand over more public lands to AI developers. We are witnessing an aggressive push to build data centers on public lands, with the administration considering more proposals than previously known. You only have to look at the massive facility—five times bigger than Meta's—planned for public land near Boise, to see the scale of the threat, prompting leaders like Rep. Jared Huffman to lead the charge against this industrialization.
- YouTube
But Burgum isn't just giving away our land; he is deliberately dismantling the infrastructure meant to protect it. After installing right-wing operatives, his Interior Department has blocked tens of millions in national park funds. Meanwhile, his highly touted national park fee scheme has raised only a quarter of what he promised.
The sheer volume of cancelled projects and defunded parks is staggering. Over the past month, local and national news have painted a devastating picture of what Burgum's tenure looks like on the ground:
- The administration blocking $25 million in national park projects, while Oregon's Senators are questioning where the money is even going
- The feds rejected over 130 park projects last month, hitting California the hardest
- Vital funds have been slashed everywhere: Yellowstone lost $428K for cultural resource projects, and Nevada’s parks are losing millions after federal funding blocks
- The Interior Department is actively clawing back NPS money to fund Trump’s projects, allowing national park maintenance work to be sidelined as the "Freedom 250" takes precedence
- Utah's national parks are drowning in a $350 million maintenance backlog without federal help
- Public land agency contractors have suffered a devastating $1.3 billion dip
- Internally, the agencies are in crisis. The National Park Service is poised for an overhaul, spring buyouts have eaten into the Interior Department’s ranks, and staff fear a major agency shakeup.
- The New York Times summed it up best: it's a story of "gold statues and staff cuts" disrupting America's parks
We cannot allow our shared natural heritage to be bulldozed, defunded, and sold off by men who look at a majestic forest and only see square footage for server racks. Protecting our public lands is like protecting the soul of the nation—and that is sorely needed at this time.
And I hope my little musical contribution helps save the soul of our nation, check it out at AllHatDougBurgum.org.
